Great shot, lovely and sharp. Question though - If you are using a 400mm lens, why use shutter priority and set it at 1/160sec. Would it not have benn better setting it faster?

Darren

the shutter speed was set to obtain an acceptable exposure. the squirrel was in the shade, and a faster shutter speed would have resulted in an underexposed image. the lens i use has a maximum aperture of f5.6 at 400mm, and 1/160 just happened to be the fastest shutter speed i could use without increasing ISO. since i had the camera on a tripod, the shutter speed wasn't really a concern because the squirrel wasn't moving much...

i shoot in shutter priority a lot, and adjust my shutter speed to achieve either an acceptable exposure at max aperture, or, if light permits, to freeze action or increase DOF if desired. if i can't get a good exposure, or the speed i need to stop motion, i boost the ISO. i don't use aperture mode as much with the telephoto, because at 400mm, at any significant distance, even f5.6 provides sufficient DOF for the subjects i shoot.